Many machines have a spinning or sliding shaft about which seals are provided. Seals typically include a rigid, metal ring or disc interior of which is mounted a flexible rubber or other suitable material. Seals are often used to prevent or reduce lubricant leakage and prevent the accumulation of dust and dirt around ball-bearings or other devices that provide low-friction support to a shaft. Other seal arrangements are also known in the art.
Seal drivers have been developed to mount seals into position for subsequent insertion of a shaft into the seal. Typically these drivers consist of a set of sturdy discs or like members that are coupled to a driving member. In use, a disc is placed adjacent a seal and the driving member is struck, creating a force that transfers through the driving member to the disc and then the seal, driving the seal into position.
A disadvantageous aspect of current seal driver sets is that they are very expensive, based in part on the specialized nature of the device. Due to their significant expense, many individual mechanics typically do not have a set of seal drivers and larger shops tend to have one set to be shared by several mechanics, leading to situations in which a desired seal driver size is not available.
A less expensive alternative to seal drivers is sockets—a standard accessory for most mechanics. Use of a socket is also advantageous because their hollow cylindrical structure permits driving of a seal onto a shaft, whereas the flat discs typically used in seal drivers as described above do not. When using a socket as a seal driver, a mechanic selects the socket size that approximates the size of a given seal and drives that seal into position by striking the socket with a hammer 15 or the like. This use, which is illustrated in FIG. 1, constitutes “mis-use” of the socket 16 and often damages the socket resulting in significantly shorted product life. Notwithstanding damage to the sockets, it is standard practice in many shops to drive seals 18 with sockets.
This practice is in part exacerbated by tool companies that offer life-time tool warranties that allow mechanics to simply replace the damaged sockets at no charge to the mechanic. This results in financial loss to the tool maker and unnecessary and undesirable resource consumption to generate new sockets.